I hate to slow down. I’m a busy person. I have a lot to do. Especially this time of year. Don’t you guys feel like you’re in a rat race trying to close the year and still have time to wind down around the holidays?

I hate being sick. When I get sick and am forced to slow down its really hard to catch up. I feel like a hamster on a wheel that won’t stop. For someone like me, putting a halt on life can feel disastrous, as if feeling bad and probably being stinky (Don’t kid yourself, laying around in sweaty sheets, and not feeling like you want to shower adds up!) weren’t bad enough.

But when one person in my family gets sick, sooner or later, we all do. This just happened:

Wes got sick while we were in Mexico over Thanksgiving. Not Montezuma’s revenge sick. Straight up flu sick. He came home and had to lay in bed for three days before he started feeling human again. Around the same time, Makenna was diagnosed with strep. Her mother took her to the doctor, who put her on antibiotics. While Makenna was recovering from strep, Madeline developed a cough.

A week later, I went to a cardio class and was feeling dizzy and weak fifteen minutes into it. After twenty-five minutes, I had to leave and then spent the rest of the day at home, laying low. In the middle of the night, I broke into a sweat in my sleep and woke up to drenched sheets, feeling like crap. That same day, Makenna woke up with a fever again and was feeling like crud. Madeline was still coughing.

OMG! What a mess!

Even though I knew in my heart the essential oil protocol I was using on my kids was going to help (remember we don’t get better overnight), my husband wouldn’t stop nagging me. So I caved. I decided to load everyone up and take them all to the doctor! (and secretly, I couldn’t wait for my husband to hear from an expert what I was doing was right on track).

Madeline probably had an ear infection that she didn’t complain about because the doctor found bacteria in her ear. She said the cough may linger three to four weeks. I’d been applying oils but that night and next morning I went heavy on the eucalyptus, melaleuca, lavender, and a blend of wild orange, clove, eucalyptus, cinnamon, and rosemary oils and a day later it was all gone. Mamma knows best.  🙂

Makenna was in the process of coming down with another virus. For her, I went with oregano oil and the same blend of wild orange, clove, eucalyptus, cinnamon and rosemary that I used on Madeline. Twenty-four hours later she was back in school. Another victory!

Wes had a virus with a cough that the doctor said would probably take a month to get over. He also got the wild orange blend, melaleuca and oregano oil and finally admitted to me I was right and he’d exercise patience in the future and listen to his wife. LOL.

I had strep. I had no idea! I gargled with the same blend the girls and Wes got, plus oregano and lemon every three hours and then swallowed it. I made gel gaps out of the wild orange blend, oregano, melaleuca and lemon and took them every three hours. I rubbed eucalyptus, sandalwood, melaleuca, lemon and lavender oils all over the outside of my throat every few hours, took wild orange blend throat drops all day. I rested (I know, Me?! Yes, even I rest when I’m feeling bad), didn’t exercise, got lots of sleep, drank lots of fresh pressed juice and hot tea and ate fresh, raw vegetables. In forty-eight hours, the strep was gone.

No antibiotics needed.

Why am I telling you this? I really believe we have the power to heal ourselves.

We can learn to be healers at home. @hayleyhobson (Click to Tweet!)

Natural plant remedies, along with a lot of rest, eating right and a little bit of patience stopped my family from giving each other the gift of illness over and over again.

And yes – gratitude for Western Medicine. We are fortunate to have it as a back up. And it’s always nice to have that peace of mind by letting a doc diagnose you.

But trust your intuition. Go with your gut. We really do have that power to take control of our health.

P.S. The best way to be well is to not get sick in the first place. Get plenty of rest, drink water, take vitamins, eat a balanced diet low in sugar and fat, give your immune system a fighting chance. But you’re not always going to be able to avoid it. Viruses and bacteria are always floating around. Especially this time of year. But we can definitely prevent it from getting worse than it needs to be which to me means getting me on my feet again and moving at the speed I like to.  🙂

So, what’s your trick for keeping your family from getting and staying sick all winter long?

Hayley Hobson is an author, speaker, business coach, yogi, Pilates instructor, and holistic nutritional expert based in Boulder, CO. Her unique and intelligent style promotes strengthening while softening—empowering her clients to heal not only their physical bodies but their hearts and minds as well. To learn more about her nutritional courses, events, and custom programs, visit hayleyhobson.com or follow her on Facebook or Twitter.

* DOWNLOAD HAYLEY’S FREE “HAPPY, HEALTHY HOLIDAY GUIDE” HERE.